In this series, we talk briefly about power-ups throughout all platform games...you know? The ones that you tend to use to like..beat enemies?
A lot of times, they are a blessing and in some cases, their uses can be limited. Today, we talk about the most commonly known power-up in the Super Mario universe and that's none other than the Fire Flower!
Name of the Power-Up : Fire Flower
Type of power: Fire?
Effect: Changes Mario or Luigi's suits with having white hats and shirt with red or green overalls.
What it does: Allows the Mario Bros to shoot fireballs
Location: Hidden in question and hidden blocks when in Super form. Can also be found under shops or bonuses with some exceptions.
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| They can't wait to shoot fireballs, can't they? |
Ah yes...the Fire Flower. The most known powerup and the very useful one early on in the Super Mario series of platformers. As stated earlier, you get the ability to shoot fireballs with this baby in your hands!
The catch is that if you get hit, you revert to stage one or stage two form depending on the game you play. For example, in the first game, if you get hit as fire Mario, Mario goes back to being small.
In Super Mario Bros 3 however, if you get hit as Fire Mario, you go back as Super Mario and not all the way to small(thank god...but this is the American version)
Likewise the same can be said if small Mario gets the fire flower, it turns him Super instead of straight Fire Mario until like after Super Mario World onwards.
But enough about its catches and let's look at it as a power-up. Early on the series, its pretty useful because it can dish out tough enemies that can't be beaten by jumping on them like Spinies or Dry Bones. As the series grew forward, in addition to doing just that, its also used for simple puzzles like lighting torches from Super Mario Galaxy onwards.
Even more solid is that in Super Mario World and in New Super Mario Bros series when hitting enemies with fireballs, they give you a free coin!
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| You make the puzzle obvious if you notice four torchlights need to be lit... |
So then the Fire Flower is overall solid, right? Well not quite...while it has its uses, it's kinda overshadowed as the later powerups have been revealed. Its main opposite, the ice flower has more merit than the fire one in most cases due to it freezing enemies which serve as temporary platforms and being able to help Mario walk on water.
And let's be real here, you can only shoot two at a time. Like ok..I get that abusing the thing can make it broken and Super Mario Galaxy series show that..for a limited time.
But why not three? I mean, after all, bosses can't get defeated that easily since you have to shoot a lot of fireballs at them right?
Then there's the problem that other powerups can defeat the enemies that it can't defeat which are Dry Bones, Boos and Buzzy Beetles who show up mid to late games.
But that's mostly its only flaw and if you look past that, its still pretty awesome in its own right.
So what could be fixed for it to be used as favorably? Maybe three at a time like I suggested? Or how about in the 3D games, give the ability to shoot fireballs in all directions at once..that'd be cool! I mean technically, you could spin jump as Fire Mario and like shoot one fireball in each direction so why not?
And that's the end of today's topic so until next time this is SPG saying, quit running and start jumping!
Overall, pretty solid power up and should be encouraged to be used frequently. Just don't expect it to be anything better like for instance, the Super Leaf or heck, Ice Flower.
